1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to data processing and more specifically to verifying queries to databases.
2. Description of the Related Art
Querying a database to retrieve information may be a critical function for most businesses. A database may contain information collected and processed by a business over time. Such information may provide the business with critical data to aid decision making, planning, program implementation, control, etc. The ability to quickly and efficiently retrieve such critical data may provide a business with a competitive advantage in its respective market. For example, critical data collected and processed over time may indicate a shift in consumer expectations related to products or services provided by the business. By adjusting its products and services to the changing consumer expectations, the business may become more profitable.
With the growing complexity of databases, the complexity of query language to retrieve data in the databases has also greatly increased. Furthermore, due to the increasing dependency and frequency of accesses to organizational databases, more and more members of the organization may be required to build such complex queries even though they may not necessarily be trained in query languages. One way to allow a person not trained in query languages to build a query would be to provide a graphical user interface to build the query, the selections in the graphical user interface being used to generate the query.
However, in some organizations that maintain large complex databases, the GUIs used to create queries may also become complex. Therefore, even GUI created queries may have to be verified. One way to verify a query is by trial and error. However, this solution may be inefficient and cost prohibitive because writing many different queries may become very expensive. Therefore, it is essential that the queries are written correctly and accurately to minimize the number of iterations of query writing to achieve the desired results from the query. This may be a problem for lay users who may not have the skills necessary to verify query language.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and system for allowing lay users to verify complex queries.